Playing in the Leaves

Monday was a beautiful autumn day here in CNY. Mostly cloudy but with some breaks of sun, and thanks to my strict "no raking" policy there were plenty of leaves in the back yard. The boys had the day off from school, so we spent a good portion of the afternoon playing outside. Griffin had a great time throwing the leaves - up in the air, at his brother, at me. Grant spent most of his time actively trying to avoid looking nice for pictures. He's just at that age where he doesn't want to be my little model anymore. As he told me, "I'm all smiled out - you take too many pictures, woman!" Yeah, that's our little 9-year-old attitude shining through.

But even with Grant making things difficult, I am quite pleased with some of the pictures I got...

Making "leaf angels"

This is what happens when they decide to stop throwing leaves at each other and instead come after me.

Cousins and birthdays and such

Today we attended a birthday party for one of the boys' cousins. One of our goals for today was to get a group picture. There are six total cousins (including my boys) and they have never been in the same picture together. I was concerned about the weather this morning (cold, yucky rain) but it cleared up by party time and we were able to have our photo session outside. I didn't get to spend a lot of time on these, however. When it's cold outside, and I don't feel particularly well (a nasty cold) and there are presents and cake to be had inside - well, let's just say the kids had a very limited attention span.




The castle cake was beautiful. Can you believe the cake maker only wanted to charge $30.00 for all of this??
The pumpkin coach was made out of solid white chocolate. Mmmmmmmmm.....

Halloween 2007

Halloween was a multiple-day affair for us this year. Between Cub Scouts, church, schools and regular ol' trick-or-treating, the boys got a lot of use out of their costumes! Tuesday was the Halloween party and parade at Griffin's preschool. I was surrounded by unbelievable cuteness...

Griffin, my little skeleton.

The Cat in the Hat leads the parade...

...followed by the timid little scarecrow.
The parade marches down the hallway.
I spy two skeletons, a peacock princess...
...and a pretty purple fairy.
Snack time!
Cinderella munches on a pretzel before the ball...

...while the scarecrow and lion plan their trip down the yellow brick road.
Everyone gathers for a "spooky" story...
...and some silly songs!


Wednesday afternoon was the parade at Grant's school. It was the first time that I've actually been able to go, having been working the previous few years. Since they marched out by grade level, it was fun to see the progression of costumes from cute in the Kindergarten and 1st grade classes, all the way up to weird (and sometimes very creative) in the upper grades. Even most of the teachers dressed up.

Here they come!
Two little witches at the front of the line.
Grant's Kindergarten teacher as the old lady in the shoe.
A mummy and two Spideys.
Mrs. L. the milkmaid.
Grant's friend G. Not his girlfriend, just his friend who is a girl. ;-)
And there's Grant the Dementor.
Probably my favorite costumes from the parade.
Even some of the spectators came in costume!
And finally we made it to Halloween night, and trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. It was a perfect evening for being outside, with temps in the upper 50s. I remember it almost always snowing on Halloween when I was a kid!


Here we go!


Griffin meets another skeleton.
Masks off, getting tired of all that walking...
Finally back at Grandma's with the loot, but clearly ready to crash for the night.

It's Holiday Ordering Time!

It's that time of year again - time to order photos for holiday cards and gifts. If you were a Jen Marriner Photography wedding or portrait client in 2007 and would like to place a holiday order, please head over to your web gallery and choose your favorite images. If you would like to book a photo session for the holidays, please contact me as soon as possible to set up a date and time which works best for you. Sessions which take place prior to December 1st will have proofs available in time to place print orders for holiday gifts.

Ordering is simple! Just email me at jmarriner@twcny.rr.com to place orders for beautiful reprints and enlargements with all necessary retouching provided at no additional cost. This includes free conversion to black and white! I can have your favorite print matted and framed (contact me for pricing) or I can create a lovely collage or storyboard print for you. Another holiday favorite is the Photo Storybook, containing all of your favorite images in a 20-page hardcover book with a customized dust jacket. As an added bonus, all of my 2007 clients will receive a 10% discount on all prints, books and presentation services.

I am also offering discounts on large quantities on prints of any single image for use in your holiday cards. Choose from 3 1/2" x 5", 4" x 6" or 5" x 7" prints:

3 1/2 " x 5" or 4" x 6":
1-24 prints: $2.00 each
25-49 prints: $1.75 each
50-99 prints: $1.50 each
100+ prints: $1.00 each

5" x 7":
1-24 prints: $8.00 each
25-49 prints: $7.00 each
50-99 prints: $6.00 each
100+ prints: $4.00 each

Order deadlines for Christmas Eve delivery are as follows:
Photo Storybooks: November 23rd
Collages and Storyboards: December 1st
Individual prints: December 14th
Bulk quantities of single-image prints: December 14th

Please allow 7-10 days to process and deliver all orders, except for Photo Storybooks which require 2-3 weeks turnaround time.

Thank you and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season!